Each Day As It Comes - Alaska 2012: Iditarod 2012

4 March 2012
9:50 PM

Sunrise at	7:47 AM	in direction	103°	East-southeast
Sunset at	6:19 PM	in direction	258°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 10 hours, 32 minutes (6 minutes, 45 seconds longer than yesterday)

The cloud cover unexpectedly dispersed and the revealing views of the volanos along the Cook Inlet, across to Sleeping Lady, and unexpectedly - Denali itself. Sections along the side of the starting chute revealed overflow on top of the ice. In other places, walking in the snow was like walking through granular sugar. Still the day was fairly warm, 15 - 20, and the sun felt good as it hit the back of my coat and hood.

All the mushers are on their way to Nome. We know, from experience, some of those will not complete the run. Through injury, fatigue, disinterest, or not having sufficient strength in their team, they will leave the race. But the vast majority will arrive in Nome.

Out of those finishers, many will have competed for the winning title. Others will be competing with themselves. They will compete against last year's time or simply take pride in having finished. All will come away with a full and complete experience of the race.

We've seen from experience some run it once, never to return again. Others return again, and again, and again. What race is this for Rick Swenson, Mitch Seavey, Jeff King, Paul Gebhardt?

Rebecca, who came to share this time with Gary and me, is "Iditaroded out". I am too, as far as standing and watching the hoopla goes, but I definitely am not done with Iditarod 2012. Of we three, I am the only one who is truly a dog sled racing junkie, but the other two enjoyed the ambience. Gary especially likes being up at the starting line where he can hear the commentary about each of the racers and see how they are as they leave the chute. Some teams already appeared to be working hard. Others obviously had good spirits and were reading to work.

I have pictures of the restart in Willow which I will post on this page tomorrow, once we are back in Fairbanks and I have faster internet speeds.

....

I did not take time to post these photos yesterday since I thought I might want to crop a few of them - not a good activity when tired. So, as always, I did a lot more waving and cheering than snapping photos. The photo of Ryne is disappointing. They were running right along the fence and so she could make contact with folks along the way. I would have adjusted if I'd had time, but I was more interested in getting the shot and then calling to her, touching her hand and wishing her well on her way. The others are not too bad. I decided to not crop any of them; it was a gorgeous day and getting a view of the surroundings has merit on its own!